The Lad Who Gained Wisdom

The Lad who gained Wisdom


Once upon a time, in the village of Camlann, there lived a simple lad.  He was the son of a blacksmith, but he had not inherited his father’s passion for working the twisted iron.  Instead, he loved nature and had always dreamt of going out from his humble village to explore the greater world. 

One day, having decided he was going on an adventure, he set off along a wooded path towards the place where an old, haunted castle was rumoured to be.  As he walked, he hummed, and as he hummed, he spied a wizened old man in a long, grey cloak.  Approaching the man, he said,
“Old father, how are you this fine day?  As for myself, I am on my way to seek adventure in the wide world!”  The grey-cloaked stranger hunched his shoulders and replied in his notched and gravely voice,
“Oh?  I don’t suppose you are heading to the haunted castle?  I’ve been there; it’s not a nice place for young lads.  There are evil men who lurk nearby, who rob and plunder lads such as yourself.  Worse yet, there is a wraith who has been bound to that accursed place.  He will kill you if you are not quick with your wits, for no force in this world can overcome his mighty power.  If you strike him, you will surely die.”  The lad was troubled at the old man’s warning, but, steeling himself, he ventured on:
“Yes, I do intend to go to yonder castle, and no power of this world, or the next shall hinder my passing!  For I am young and strong, and ready to challenge even wraiths of the underworld.” 
“Very well”, the man replied, “your own doom be upon you.  For your rash words belie your supposed wisdom.  But my heart grows heavy within me, for I fear for you.  If you have then resolved yourself to this fate, I must give you a piece of advice.  Listen closely; the fool who came by just minutes ago scorned my words.  Don’t be as rash as he was.”
“I’m listening”, said the lad.
“Verily,” said the man, “Listen closely:


“When your doom draws near and hope seems lost,
Remember this wisdom yet all be lost:

First, the stars are your fortune when hope grows dim,
Remember them, lest your fears claw in.

Second, lest you swell with pride, remember Orion,
Who is his pride, swore a mighty oath in great haste:
Said he, “I shall, before first frost, strike down all life, whatever the cost.”
Yet we remember, you and I, what came of that day, when Orion died.
For scorpion, having struck ‘round his shield,
Killed Orion with a wonton cry, and left him to rot, under the sky.

Finally, my friend, remember when
Flaming rocks from on high go pelting by,
For by this sign you shall know, your wisdom has saved you,
You may go.”

“Well”, said the lad, “that is certainly a lot to remember, but I shall do my best.  Do you think you could repeat it once more?”  The old man obliged, and having repeated the verse once more, the two parted. 
Soon enough, the lad saw a man upon the path ahead.  He was fell to look upon and was girt with a long sword.  Before long, they fell into step beside one another. 
“Hello”, said the man. 
“Hello”, replied the lad.  “If I may be so bold, are you the man that yonder old father referred to?”
“Look here”, replied the man, suddenly angry.  “That deluded old fool has his head in the clouds.  I suppose he told you the same nonsense about stars and shields and great fiery things as he did me?”  ‘Well listen here, forget the lot of it.  He’s a senile old man with nothing better to do than waylay honest travelers.”
“Never mind all that,” replied the lad, remembering the old man’s warning of robbers and wraiths. “Just the same, I’d listen to him at least.  He didn’t seem as bad as you make him out to be.”  The two lapsed into silence.  After a while, the man asked,
         “Are you going to the old haunted castle?”
         “Well…y- yes, if you are”, the lad replied, taken aback by the man’s blunt tone.  But he had noticed how strong the man looked, and was glad of his company all the same, especially with robbers about.
         “Well I am, so you’d best keep up.”

As the two rounded a bend in the path, a gang of robbers appeared out of the trees and quickly encircled them.  They were swarthy men, and looked as if they had seen many battles, for their helms were dented and their swords notched.  The leader of the gang stepped forward and confronted the quailing lad. 
“Hand over all you’rn money!” he shouted.  This was a man well acquainted with giving orders, and from the tone of his voice, having them followed.  But before the lad could reply, his companion unsheathed his great sword and rushing forward, smote the man a great and terrible blow.  Howling in pain, the leader signaled a retreat and the gang melted back into the woods. 
“You’ve saved my life”, the lad said breathlessly. “Thank you”
“Don’t mention it”, said the man gruffly.  “But I’d advise you to think more about what I’ve said.  That old man’s words didn’t save you from the bite of steel, did they?”  The man’s voice was still rough, but had softened somewhat towards the lad.  He still thought him fresh and untempered, but he was beginning to grow on him. 

Meanwhile the lad thought, and although his companion’s words made sense, against better judgment, he still held on to the old man’s verse, for he could not forget the man’s grave warning against folly.
Soon enough, the two came up to the crumbling walls of the castle.  The place was shrouded in gloom and despair.  Dark precipices and foreboding towers pierced the murky sky.  As the two made their way through the wasteland, they came upon a yawning chasm rent deep into the earth.  The unfathomable darkness was spanned by a single, precarious bridge, stretching out across an eternity of space. 
As the two peered over the edge, a shadow of darkness came streaming over the gap towards them, coalescing into a wraith.  Roaring, the lad’s companion rushed at the wraith and hewed at him with a mighty stroke.  But lo, the man’s sword sparked, and rent itself from his grasp!  The man clawed at his throat unable to breathe, and as he gazed into the pitiless eyes of the wraith, he was thrown into the pit of despair and dashed into pieces on the ground far below.
Stunned in horror, the lad backed away from the apparition, but as he started to run, a voice issued from the darkness:
“You shall not leave this place…”  Panicked, the lad tried to run across the bridge, but again, the voice issued forth from the wraith:
         “You shall not pass…”  In anguish, the lad cried out, “What shall I do then?  If I cannot leave, and cannot go on, what more is there for me to do but suffer the same fate as my companion?”
         “Correct…” hissed the voice.  “For you have shown great folly coming to this place even against your better judgment… You have brought your own doom hither through your foolish pride…  However, there is one option left unto you, for I have been bound here with a curse, not to have done as I will, but to be subject to the wisdom or folly of trespassers, for it is my will to smite you where you stand, but… I must obey my tormentor…  If you solve three riddles, you may do as you wish…but if you answer wrong, your fate will be worse than the man I have just struck down…”
         “What do I have to lose?” cried the lad.  “I accept.”
“Very well…” the wraith replied.  “Firstly:

At night they come without being fetched,
And by day they are lost without being stolen."

         The lad pondered the riddle for a moment, and in a flash of inspiration, he remembered the old man’s words: “When your doom draws near and hope seems lost,
Remember this wisdom yet all be lost: First, the stars are your fortune when hope grows dim, Remember them, lest your fears claw in.
         
“Stars!” The lad exclaimed. 

Hissing with displeasure, the wraith replied, “Correct… Secondly:

A lonely wanderer, wounded with iron, I am smitten with war-blades, sated with strife,
Worn with the sword-edge; I have seen many battles, Much hazardous fighting, oft without hope
Of comforts or help in the carnage of war Ere I perish and fall in the fighting of men.
The leavings of hammers, the handiwork of smiths, Batter and bite me, hard-edged and sharp;
The brunt of the battle I am doomed to endure. In all the folk-stead no leech could I find
With wort or simple to heal my wounds; But day and night with the deadly blows
The marks of the war-blades double and deepen.”

As the lad thought, the next verse of the old man’s rhyme came back to him:  For Scorpion, having struck ‘round his shield…

         “A shield!” cried the lad.
Again came the response: “Correct….Lastly:

Large as a mountain, small as a pea,
Endlessly swimming in a waterless sea.”

As the lad remembered his instruction, the answer came, just as the others had.  But before he could voice his answer, the wraith, sensing his own approaching doom, made one last desperate, panicked rush towards the lad, breaking free of his bonds! Startled, the lad stood his ground, and with the poise of one endowed with great wisdom said:
         “Meteors”, with confidence in his voice. 
Shrieking, the wraith burst asunder, twisting into darkness, never again to trouble those who walk under the sun. As the apparition departed, the murk lifted, and the ground shook; the chasm was closing.  As the youth watched, he realised the curse of the wraith must have been broken.  For a moment, he was tempted to think highly of himself for loosing himself from the wraith’s snare, but quickly his conscience railed against his pride, for he remembered the man’s warning against pride.

Later, while on the path home, the young man remembered his benefactor who had given him the wisdom to save his life.  As the village of Camlann came into view, he recalled with sadness his brash companion, who, although he was strong with weapons of war, had lacked the wisdom to receive instructions with grace and humility.  As he walked he said to himself, “If he had only heeded the warning, he would still be alive today.”  As he walked he hummed and as he hummed he thought.  What he thought was this:  “I am done with adventures for a very long while.”


Proverbs 4:13 - Hold on to instruction, do not let it go;
      guard it well, for it is your life.









Riddle 1 +3 - http://www.telacommunications.com/misc/riddles.htm
Riddle 2 - http://www.godecookery.com/mtales/mtales04.htm
Old Man’s verse is my own work.